Media Businesses Aim to be Tech Firms

Newspaper and cable stocks are struggling, both with legacy technology and digital profitability.

The story gets batted around so often these days, you think it would make for the ultimate ironic headline at your favorite newsstand: “Newspapers are dead! Newspapers are dead!”

Or are they?

“No, newsprint is not dead and newspapers are not dead,” says Craig Barberich, global head of media solutions at Zuora, a subscription management company. “But they do have a pricing challenge.”

So before stopping the presses, invite your favorite editor to meet the digital elephant in the room. “Our newspaper and publishing clients are beginning to think and talk about themselves as ‘modern media companies,'” Barberich says.

Venture a bit further afield and similar challenges confront cable television companies, even as consumers “cut the cord” on their subscriptions in favor of more affordable streaming services.

And so, the headline as it might read goes more like this: “Old media companies must modify or die.”